Halo: SPARTAN Yellow
by tyratoku
Summary: The story of Yellow Team- a squad of Spartan IIs. From training until the Battle of Reach, Halo: SPARTAN Yellow tells the tale of some of the fiercest warriors the galaxy has ever seen. Rated T for language and violence. Updated Nov 05! R&R please!
1. Battle of Miridem January 2544

Halo: SPARTAN-Yellow

**0639 hours, January 17th, 2544 (Military Calander)\**

**Miradiem City, planet Miridem.**

Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-020 Jacob listened to the music booming through the speakers of the D77-TC dropship, waiting for the vehicle to come to a stop.

He sat in the back of the transport, in the blood tray of the vehicle. Inside with him were four other Spartans, two doctors, and three UNSC Marines. Jake was the leader of Yellow Team for the upcoming mission: rescue civilians trapped within the city of Miradiem and engage against the hostile Aliens invading the capital.

The aliens were a collection of different species unified under one banner, known collectively as "The Covenant". After first coming in contact with Humans near the Planet Harvest in 2525. Ever since, the Covenant has been bent on the destruction of Humanity. And they had just come to a new world.

"We're almost there," the cool, low voice of the pilot announced, cutting out the prestine classical music that had been on the speakers. "Everyone back there, get ready. We're coming in hot." As he said this, the wall that was the back of the blood-tray opened, creating a ramp that the occupants could walk down when they landed. Through the now open viewport, Jake saw their two escorts start to edge closer, one flying directly behind while the other took point.

Jake felt a hand touch his, and he looked over to see SPARTAN-122, Sheila, wipe two of her fingers across her faceplate. She wore Mark IV Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor, as did all the Spartans inside the dropship. While wearing them, the occupants could not accurately show emotions on their faces, because they wore large helmets with faceplates that nobody outside could see through. The Spartans had adopted a customary gesture of wiping two fingers across where the mouth would be on their helmet to signal a smile.

Jake returned the gesture.

"Alright everyone, get ready-" Jake started.

A large explosion sounded nearby, which rocked Jake to the core. He glanced outside and saw their tailing escort burst into flames and spiral to the ground. Plasma torpedoes began to criss-cross the sky. The Pelican lurched sideways, then corrected itself. Jake felt the craft begin to descend.

A few moments later, he heard the voice of the pilot begin to speak. "Alright, everybody who's getting off needs to get out! I can't be a gigantic bulls-eye for everything here too long!"

Jake stepped off the craft, carrying a weapon in each hand. He clipped his SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle to a slot on his back, and held his MA5B Assault Rifle. Shiela got off the craft with a M19 SSM Rocket Launcher and her own MA5B. The others held miscellanious weapons. The three Marines took up the rear, staying close to the two doctors that walked off. Jake looked around the area where they had landed and took in everything he saw.

They were in a large intersection, where two streets met. To the east was a large courtyard, and that seemed like the best place to go. "Get to the courtyard!" he ordered, and pointed. The Pelican dropship began to rise into the air, sending heat at their backs while they ran. The sound of gunfire, explosions, and screaming filled his ears as he ran, making his lip turn in disgust. They ran from the middle of the intersection to the cover of a bullet-riddled building, stopping near the corner as they began to be shot at.

Gunfire began to kick up, and the Spartans gave covering fire while the Marines and the doctors ran to the cover behind large stone statues of the founders of the city. One of the Marines was hit in the ankle by a plasma bolt, and sent him sprawling to the ground. One of the Spartans, Danial-036, ran out and grabbed him before diving behind the cover of concrete just before a large plasma artillery shell created a crater where the Marine had been. Jake nodded to Danial, and turned to the remaining four Spartans with him, across the street from the courtyard. "Anton and Emma, you will run out from here to the courtyard in mark 30 seconds. It'll be a distraction while Shiela and I go up this alley and flank the enemy." Anton-044, nodded and stuck his head out from behind cover.

He pulled it back just as plasma began to splash off the bricks. "We have two Wraith tanks and at least a squad of Jackals. I couldn't see it all," he said. Jake nodded, and thought for a moment.

"Alright, we'll keep to the same plan, but be careful. Those tanks can create a lot of hell." Jake said.

Anton nodded, patted Emma-019 on the shoulder, and ran across the street, diving to cover as the enemy snipers shot at him. Jake jogged through the alleyway he talked about earlier and emerged a block down to the south. Sheila was right behind him. He saw the blockade set up by the Covenant snipers and tanks, and ran full-speed at it. The tanks didn't have time, and he managed to jump on the nearest one, rip off the top hatch, and toss two Fragmentation grenades inside. Sheila jumped into the middle of the pack of Jackal snipers, shooting, punching and kicking her way through them. Jake jumped from the first Wraith to the second as the first exploded, propelling him further and faster than he expected. Sheila was smacked to the ground, and the final two Jackals left standing were vaporized in the explosion.

Jake landed on the other Wraith, indenting the side with his body, then fell off. After a moment, he shook his head to clear it, and looked up to see the tank begin to turn towards him.

A rocket flew through the air right above him and smashed into the tank, sending it backwards and destroying the front of it's armor. A second rocket followed the first, and finished the job: the flaming remains of the thing slid to the ground, and stayed there.

Jake looked to see Sheila walking towards him, her Rocket Launcher in her hands.

A few moments later, two of his other squadmates were at his side; Danial and Emma. Emma held a Sniper Rifle, with an M7 Submachine Gun clipped to her hip. Danial held an MA5B assault rifle and his own Sniper Rifle. Jake nodded to them all, then unclipped his MA5B from his back, and held it in one hand. With the other he pointed at a building up the street. Gunfire ripped into it, and Covenant Banshees, bulbous purple flying craft, flew by it and shot at it.

"I think-" Jake started. His suit intercepted a UNSC distress signal/transmission and patched it through to his speakers. Anton, the two Doctors, and the Three Marines soon appeared with the rest of his squad.

_"-lo Two-Nine, I am trapped in a building with three squads of Marines and a dozen civilians, we are cut off from reinforcements and are pinned down by enemy fire," the voice paused to yell an order to someone else. "We need back-up, now."_

"-that settles it. We're going to rescue those civilians." Jake said. "Yellow four and five," he said, indicating Danial and Emma. You'll be staying here and giving sniper cover fire for us when we move up. Doctors-"

"-We're going with you. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it." One of the doctors said. Her name was Catherine Halsey, the creator of the SPARTAN-II project, of which the Spartans were a part of. She was tall, had long, black hair, and piercing blue eyes. She was currently wearing a pair of form-fitting black pants, as well as a dark blue sweater. Her partner, a young man named Joe Schubert had messy brown hair and wore a similar sweater, but with camouflage fatigues that he must have borrowed from a Marine back on _The Alexandria_, the ship they all had come from.

Jake's lip curled back in anger. He was probably the only Spartan to have graduated through the program that disliked the woman. Every other man or woman that had graduated from the program held her in the highest regard, even putting her opinion and any orders she gave above that of Colonels, Generals, Admirals, or whoever else outranked them. He was the oldest of the Spartans, by a good eight months. He was the only one who still remembered the life outside of the Military, and the only one who still missed it. It was because of this that he hated her.

"No." Jake replied.

Halsey's eyes narrowed. By now, she must have known about Jake's distaste for the woman; they had been on _The Alexandria _for a good three months now, together, confined within the ship's space. He was as polite as he could be, as he was to every other person. But unlike the others, he didn't treat her like his mother. He didn't go out of his way for her, he didn't go through with her orders without thinking, like the others. She must have known something was up.

"Listen, you cyborg freak. We are here to study and classify how the Covenant is acting, why they are engaging in battle differently than normal, and why they are excavating large sections of the planet." Schubert said, raising one hand. "And under orders of the Office of Naval Intelligence, we are to follow your team wherever you go."

Jake smiled within his helmet. "And my team is staying here. And you are too." Dumbfounded, Schubert looked to Halsey for support. Instead, she stood as still as stone, watching Jake direct his squad. "Corporal Rogers," Jake ordered, looking at the leader of the three marines that had come onto the surface with him. "You and your squad are to stay here and provide cover for my snipers, watch their backs and make sure nothing sneaks up behind them." The Corporal saluted, and told his two teammates to get into position. "Anton, you're with Sheila and I." He looked towards the building. "Let's go."

* * *

Ensign Richard Lash stood on the bridge of the UNSC Frigate _The Alexandria_, watching through a monitor as the battle unfolded below. He was fresh out of Officer Candidate School, and this ship was his first assignment. The ship hovered a few kilometere outside of the atmosphere of the planet, still and trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. They hovered over the city of Blaire, the second largest city on the planet. Blaire was currently under control of the UNSC, but had not been attacked by the Covenant in force. Elsewhere on the planet, above the city of Miradiem, two Covenant warships hovered, feeding troops into the city. On the exact opposite side of where _The Alexandria_ was based on the geography of the planet, eighteen UNSC ships fought against six Covenant ships, and the UNSC was fighting a losing battle.

Captain Richard "Dick" Browning hovered behind the back of an ensign elsewhere on the bridge, constantly being updated on the space battle elsewhere on the planet. If it were up to him, he would have been in the battle, fighting, losing, and dying under the banner of the UNSC. Dick was perhaps the most righteous and self-sacrificing person Lash had ever met, especially when it came to the UNSC Navy. A transmission came up from a Lieutenant on the ground, in Blaire, saying that Covenant troops were amassing a kilometer outside of the city's limits.

Not a moment later a man walked onto the bridge, and Lash and Browning both looked up to look at him. He was Sergeant Major Robert Redford, a short and stocky man who had been in rehab in the medical wing of the ship for the past eight weeks, after injuring his ankle in a recreational boxing match. "Sir, the fight downstairs isn't going that well. Requesting permission to take a Pelican down with a squad of Marines-"

"And what Marines would those be?" Dick replied. "Bob, as much as I want you down there fighting, you're probably one of the best ground-pounders I've ever seen, but honestly? Every able-bodied Marine on this ship has already been sent down, and we've lost so many birds I'll probably be discharged when we get back to Reach."

"-Then send down the non-able-bodied!" Redford said, both hands out now. "There are two dozen men in the Medical wing that are ready to get back out and fight-"

"-And most of them won't ever walk again, after the injuries they have. No. Redford, if you really want to help, get to the Hangar and help the nurses get the dead and wounded out of the 'birds. And that's an order."

Embarrassed, Redford turned on his heel and walked out of the bridge, and a few of the bridge crewmen turned to look at Dick. In every other situation involving combat, the Captain had encouraged everyone, wounded, healthly, and everywhere in between, to get into the fight and do their best. After a few moments of staring, the ship's AI, Xenophon, appeared on a holo-projector in the center of the bridge. On the pedestal, he was little over a foot tall, but he was modeled after an ancient Greek War general that had stood more than six feet tall. He had long white hair that flowed into a beard that covered nearly half of his face. Dark eyes and a large nose were his strong features.

"Sergeant Major Robert Redford has retrieved his gear from his quarters and is en route to Pelican Zulu-151." he announced.

Lash looked at Browning, who had a smile forming on his face. "Let him pass, Xeno. He could be following my orders as I said. He can still be helping with the wounded." He waved his hand and turned to a communications station, and that was the end of the conversation. Lash grinned, and turned back to the monitor he had been watching a moment earlier. It was a diagram of southern Miradiem, where the last of the UNSC forces were holding out. A green arrow represented each UNSC soldier in the city, thanks to small transponders that were present on the back of each Marine's neck, which sent vital signs back to their ship for readings. Blue arrows represented civilians, of which there were only dozens remaining. And there were five yellow arrows. He had only seen one of them, the team leader, and only his face on a picture. Before the ship had left Reach, where Lash had boarded, Browning had met with him and the rest of the bridge crew and had told them about the Spartans that were to be on board. He was given a picture of the leader, Jake-020, and told to stay away from him and any others he was with.

And Lash followed the order. At nearly seven feet tall, and built like a rhino, he was an intimidating man. With a firm jaw, dark hair, deep blue eyes and an everlasting raised eyebrow, he looked like an old movie star. But he was far from it. He was the best of the best, a one-man army.

He was a Spartan.

* * *

Jake grabbed the face of the fleeing Jackal and slammed it's skull into a nearby wall. Anton kicked a grunt to the ground and fired point-blank a trio of rounds from his MA5B into it's chest. Sheila fired at a group of running Jackals, who had arm-mounted energy shields up to block the projectiles. "They're running!" Sheila yelled.

Jake grabbed a M67 Fragmentation Grenade with each hand and tossed both at the Jackals, bouncing against the ceiling and propelling them behind the aliens' energy shields. They exploded, killing all of the things and sending blood and gore all along the walls. "Keep moving." Jake ordered, and ran ahead. He unclipped his MA5B from his back and slammed in a new magazine full of rounds. Anton followed right behind him, switching his MA5B for an M90 Shotgun that had been on his back.

"Kilo 29, this is SPARTAN Yellow team, and we are nearing your position, and are currently one floor under you," Anton said into his comm. device.

A deep voice replied quickly, _"Spartans? Really? Goddamn HIGHCOM must love me. Shit! Rick, fire your goddamned weapon!" _the sound of gunfire ripped through the speakers of all three spartans' helmets, making them grimace in unison. _"Well can you guys hurry up? We're running low on men and ammo. And we're pinned down by a good two dozen grunts."_

"We're on our way," Anton replied, and nodded to Jake, who began to run quicker.

They were in the target building, three floors up, and jogging through hallways. Dozens of Covenant foot soldiers walked up and down the building, searching for and killing any survivors they could find. The Grunts were also hungry. The three Spartans picked up speed and began to full-out-run at nearly 50 kilometers per hour. They burst down a hallway, cut through a small lobby -running right by a trio of grunts who were dumbfoundedly surprised at the sight of them- and found a flight of stairs, pounding up them to the next level.

The sound of gunfire ever closer, the Spartans slowed and stopped in a hall, with Jake at point and Anton right behind, with Shiela bringing up the rear. Jake did a series of hand signals and Anton split into a right apartment while Sheila took the left. Jake continued down the hallway and turned left-

-and tripped over a Grunt who had been running the other way. Jake collapsed on top of it, crushing it for a moment. Within seconds, Jake had kneed it in the face and crushed it's skull, then tossed it's body away. He shouldered his weapon and jogged down the hall, turned right, and found himself right behind a group of four Jackals who stood in an apartment room, firing somewhere that Jake could not see. A moment later he saw that the Jackals stood on one end, and opposite them, through three destroyed walls and many dead bodies, was the group of Marines and civilians who had been holding out together for the past half hour. Jake looked to his left, and saw that more destroyed walls were there, and Covenant reinforcements were walking through the rubble. Jake cursed once, tossed a Frag grenade and stepped to cover on the other side of the doorway.

A second later the device exploded and the wall on the other side of the doorway exploded outwards, two charred bodies and one live one caught up in the rubble. Jake stepped over, shot the live alien once in the head, and turned back to the fight. A group of Grunts began to run towards the doorway, and Jake dropped to a crouch and fired at them. He heard a muffled explosion to his right and figured out that Anton must have broke through a wall and was close to the Marines. He'd be helping them by now.

The Spartan finished off the Grunts, and stepped over a large piece of debris, moving towards the Covenant frontline, where at least two dozen Jackals stood with overlapping shields and fired plasma pistols. Jake dove to cover as a salvo of plasma scorched through the air. He swore and tossed a grenade, and hoped it would at least distract them. It did.

He jumped out and ran through the smoke and dust the explosion had created, and the confusion it caused created a small divide in the line of shields. Jake took his chance and dove through. In mid-air, he spun, landed on his feet, and fired from right to left, hitting all of the aliens in their backs, killing them in seconds. He turned around and saw two shocked Grunts. With the last eight rounds in his clip, he killed both.

_"Jake, Anton here. We've got six walking Marines, three wounded, nine civilians, and two wounded civies. Orders?"_

Jake frowned inside his helmet. It was his mission, yes, but that many wounded and only so few combat-effective men would be a problem. "Alright, arrange for some of the civilians to carry the wounded, and the Marines if you have to. I'll be over in a second. Sheila-"

A Spartan stepped out into the rubble, and Jake smiled. "Here," she remarked. She held her rifle in one hand and with the other a grenade.

"-Okay then. Anton, get ready for movement. We'll be there in a moment."

* * *

Spartan 039- Danial, sighted through the scope of his SRS99C-S2 AM Sniper Rifle, watching as a patrol of two Jackals walked on the roof of the building. He fired two shots, and killed them both.

"Dan, stop. You're drawing way to much attention to us," Emma-019 said.

Dan looked through the scope, watching the street yet again. "Just having a bit of fun, for once."

Emma brought her head up from resting against the butt of the gun and looked over at him. "Are you kidding me?" She asked. Inside his visor, Dan grinned from ear to ear. Dan lay under the wreckage of one of the destroyed Wraiths, it's right fin made an overhang that the Spartan lay under, completely melted into the shadows. Nearly invisible. Emma was in the middle of the street, with three dead Jackals laying on top of her, making it seem like it was just a pile of the dead. The two doctors huddled inside the destroyed Wraith that had been hit with the grenade, occasionally peering out to check what was going on. One of the marines was in the courtyard, with his own Sniper Rifle, and lay beside some rubble. Another sat in a car, his MA5B set up like a turret to watch the intersection that they had come in through originally. The last Marine, the injured one, lay in the cover of an alley, an MA5B in his hands, and he also watched the intersection.

"Hey, they're coming out," Emma whispered. Dan peered through his scope and saw a door open on the ground level, and saw Anton stick his head out, an Assault Rifle in his hands. He checked both ways, and stepped out, checking again. He then waved his arm and two Marines walked out, both with Assault Rifles.

"Okay, get ready," Dan murmured. One of the Marines was about to say something, but a voice cut him off, overriding everything in all of the speakers of the Spartans and Marines.

_"This is Captain Browning to all ground forces in Miradiem. We were just notified that all but one of our destroyers in the space battle above you have been destroyed, and that the Covenant are going to be moving in to glass the planet. I'm sending in three of our last Pelicans to evac all survivors. Get to this-"_ the voice paused, and a NAV point appeared on Dan's visor, signalling him where to be. It was the intersection that they had come in on. _"-location, and wait for Evac. Good luck to you all."_

Dan looked back up the street and saw Anton leading a group of eight, with three running Marines, one running civilian. All of them held a wounded man or woman. They ran along the side of the buildings, shielded by shadows.

_VVVVVRRRRRR_

Dan looked up and saw a Covenant craft fly overhead. It was their version of a dropship, known to the UNSC as a _Spirit_. It was shaped like a two-pronged fork, except where the handle would normally be, it was replaced by a swiveling ball that shot large plasma bolts. The sides of each prong could open to create a ramp that the occupants inside could run out of and invade a battlefield.

It was not a welcome sight.

Anton motioned for the marines and civilians to be quiet and not move. The Spirit flew by, and moved out of sight. A few seconds ticked off of Dan's mission clock on his visor, and then Anton told the group to continue moving. They came to the end of the block, and were at Dan's 10 O'Clock position. Dan watched them run across the street and meet up with the Marine hiding in the car, and they were placed in different hiding spots. Anton ran back across the street and disappeared yet again into the shadows. A few moments later, and he was back at the target building, guiding a group of three walking marines, two walking civilians, and one injured, who was being carried by the two walking. They ran along the same path and were moved to the same place as the first group.

Dan looked back at the target building and saw Jake and Sheila run across the street together and disappear into the shadows. "Look, they even _run_ together," Dan joked.

Emma glared at him, "Shut up, Dan."

An explosion sounded to Dan's left, and he looked over, slightly confused.

An M12 Warthog LRV jeep came barreling down the street to his left, the one all of the runners had had to cross. It was being driven by a dark skinned marine, with a bleeding passenger and a gunner that was spraying ammunition into the air, at no targets. Dan swore in his visor and turned to attempt to give covering fire for the warthog. For a moment, the street was clear. The warthog cleared through to the intersection and turned right, driving towards the Way-point, one block down. Jake and Shiela crossed the street and continued running towards the evac-point.

Then three ghosts appeared, hovering towards him at phenomenal speeds. Ghosts were single-man craft that were shaped like the letter T, with the rider piloting it like a motorcycle. It had two small plasma cannons mounted on the front that could operate only pointing straight ahead. Dan adjusted his aim and fired once, killing the driver of the lead ghost. As he prepared to take a second shot he saw something move behind them and looked to see a Wraith tank turn the corner. Dan swore and notified all of the Spartans at the intersection. Dan was just ready to stand when he heard a familiar sound to his right, towards the target building. He looked and saw the Spirit that had flown by earlier had returned, and was dropping off troops. Dan swore and moved into a low crouch.

He saw that Emma had already moved, and looked to see her guiding the two doctors down the street, towards the way-point. Dan shouldered his rifle and fired the remaining three shots in his magazine, and killed a pair of advancing grunts. The two leftover ghosts rounded the corner and were both met with multiple shots from a waiting Anton, who held his faithful Shotgun. Dan grinned as he saw both bodies fall to the pavement, and the riderless Ghosts surged forward and crashed into parked cars. Anton and Dan both ran along the buildings on the street, running towards the main intersection.

* * *

Jake watched Anton and Danial running down the street towards him, a sniper rifle in hand. Jake was crouched behind a parked car, his sniper rifle mounted with a bipod on it. The intersection was behind and to his right, with Shiela and Emma attempting to help control the civilians and wounded Marines. The healthy marines had moved to help out the new arrival of the Warthog, taking out the wounded and grabbing the ammunition. The Marines had pushed two cars beside eachother and created a small area where the civilians could huddle together and hide.

Anton and Danial ran by to his left, and Jake readied himself. A second later, the Wraith turned the corner and Jake aimed for where he hoped the pilot's head was. If he was lucky, he could get the bullet through the armor plating and would score a headshot. If not, he could keep trying until they figured out where he was. Anton took up the street to his left, while Dan joined Emma with facing the street right behind him. The Marines had the street to his right.

A rocket passed by his head and impacted against the front of the Wraith, destroying it's front armor and exposing the grunt that was piloting it. Jake smiled, and fired, killing it. The Wraith fell from the air, and slid to a stop a few dozen meters ahead of the Spartan. Jake looked to see Shiela walking towards him, holding a smoking rocket launcher. Behind her, two blocks down the street, Jake saw six approaching Ghosts and two Wraiths. Anton yelled that another three Wraiths were approaching from the opposite way. Dan reported that a group of Banshees were flying in from his direction.

Two Pelicans began to lower to the ground, the blood trays open and ready for the survivors to pile inside.

The Wraiths from all over launched balls of plasma, which hit nearby walls and exploded, sending rubble and debris everywhere.

An overeager woman ran out from the cover that the Marines had arranged for them.

The Banshees flew by overhead, bombarding them all, killing two Marines and destroying the Warthog.

The doctor, Schubert, ran out to grab the woman.

Sheila was closest, and turned to see Schubert get hit by a piece of flying rubble.

A Wraith launched a ball of Plasma at the unconscious Schubert.

Shiela jumped into the street and grabbed him in her arms.

"NNOO!" Jake screamed.

The ball of plasma impacted on the ground, causing a bright shine of light that nearly blinded Jake, who was sent to the ground by the shock-wave. He felt something grab his chest piece and began dragging him through the street. He began to fade in and out of consciousness; he saw flashes of explosions and people falling in front of him, then he saw himself laying in the blood tray of the Pelican, and then saw the ramp closing, and the cargo bay begin to go dark.

He was done.


	2. After the battle January 2544

**1826 hours, January 17th, 2544 (Military Calander)\**

_**UNSC The Alexandria**_**, Slipspace.**

Ensign Richard Lash watched a group of surgeons work on a wounded marine, trying to sew up one of the many wounds he had sustained in the ground battle. He stood just outside med-bay four, which was in the medical wing of the ship. Watching through the three-inch-thick glass was an experience that Lash did not want to see again, but it was Captain Browning's orders. He wanted the entire bridge crew to see what happened- the horrors of the war.

Sergeant Major Robert Redford stepped up next to Lash, a frown on his face. "That boy, Dane, was one of the best driver's I've ever seen. Could take a Warthog through a river and through an alleyway only an inch wider than the 'hog itself and come out without even a knick in the paintjob." he said, and turned to Lash. "Have you heard anything from the Captain? When we're getting to wherever we're going?"

Lash shrugged. The Cole Protocol, an order designated by the UNSC HIGHCOM, or High Command, said that every ship fleeing from a combat zone must first plot a point to a completely random, unknown vector before plotting a jump to a Human controlled system. It was an order that hoped to make sure that Covenant forces following them could not find new systems, where the humans were still alive on planets. The ship was currently in it's random jump, and according to the captain, "We'll be there in approximately fifteen minutes, as long as everything goes to plan."

"Great," Redford replied, and turned to limp out of the room, and through a nearby door.

Lash watched the man go, and remembered what had happened at the end of the Miradiem battle. Lash and the rest of the bridge crew were all huddled around a few monitors, which showed images and live video feeds that were being captured by some of the planet's satellites, as well as some drones that the ship had sent out.

The dropships had gone to the intersection in question, just as a few Wraith tanks had fired their main cannons. One of the dropships was hit, and had crashed to the ground, exploded, and killed all on board as well as a few of the people. The other Pelican landed, and two of the Spartans had gone to help the wounded and civilians on first, then they carried in an unconscious Spartan, and the dropship left. The third dropship landed, picked up the last Spartan, as well as the last few Marines, and managed to get out before it was hit. A few minutes later, the ships were on board, and _The Alexandria _jumped to a random vector.

Redford had been on the second Pelican, and had jumped out and killed three Grunts and two Jackals before being picked up and thrown in by the last Spartan. Redford had been shot twice in the leg, and the doctors guessed that he would walk with a limp for the rest of his life. He was a hero, and would be getting his sixth Purple Heart ribbon when they got back to Reach.

In Miradiem, they had rescued a total of twenty six people, including that of two flights of Pelicans that had bugged out earlier on in the fight. They had dropped in almost two hundred Marines and had returned with less than 50. In Blaire, they had rescued a total of one hundred and ninety, and had put in almost two hundred Marines, and had come back with a hundred. Out of all the other cities on the single continent of Miridem, they had rescued two hundred civilians and had lost fifty Marines. Out of the five hundred Marines that had been put on the ship when they left Reach, they were coming back with a bit over two hundred, but had also picked up a hundred from other ships' loadouts.

_The Alexandria_ was the only UNSC ship returning from the Battle of Miridem.

* * *

Jake opened his eyes to see a bright light hovering a few meters above him, a lamp embedded into the cieling. He moved his right hand, and a moment later he saw a face appear in his vision. It was Anton. "Jake! You're awake!" he said. "Y'know, you really should stop getting knocked out so much. Seems to happen a lot."

Jake forced a smile. They were in some Medical room, probably a recovery room. Neither of them wore their Mjolnir suits, and both looked like professional, giant body builders. Anton wore a suit and tie, along with a Navy hat. On his suit were various ribbons and medals, all from the missions that he had carried out on various battlefields around the galaxy. Jake looked past him and saw Emma and Danial standing in the room, by the door, both wearing similar uniforms. Sheila was nowhere to be seen.

Jake smiled at them both, happy to see them after the successful mission. But the fact that Sheila wasn't there was a nagging fact in the back of his mind, and he wondered why all were dressed up like they were going to a service funeral.

The realization hit him like a tidal wave.

"I'm...I'm sorry." Anton started. Jake grabbed his hand and squeezed as hard as he could.

"Where's Sheila?" Jake asked, his eyes burning with fury.

Tears began to form in Anton's eyes, and he squeezed Jake's hand. "...She's dead." He whispered. The tears fell down his cheeks. "Jake, Sheila's dead."


	3. Training on Reach September 2517

**0530 Hours, September 24, 2517 (Military Calendar) /**

**Reach Military Complex, planet Reach **

_**27 Years earlier**_

Jacob heard the sounds of heavy boots on dirt, and slowly began to open his eyes. He was on a thin matress on a small frame of a bed, not nearly as comfortable as a sleep as he had grown accustomed to as New Paris, on Mars. There, his dad was a resteraunt owner and his mom was a surgeon. They were one of the richest couples in the city.

Here, he lay in the grimy cinder block barracks on a planet he had never been on before. Late in the night before, he had been dropped off here along with a dozen others from the Sol system, placed on a landing pad, taken by tall, muscular, strange men to these barracks, and Jacob had fallen asleep instantly. He remembered a man poking him with a needle, and Jacob had fallen asleep shortly after that.

But he had always been a very light sleeper, and he looked and saw the same large men walking through the barracks, stun batons in hand. Jacob sat up, and one of them looked at him, nodded slightly, and pointed to a door at the end of the barracks. Jake reluctantly got up and stretched. The moved moved like a blur and struck him in the butt, making Jake scream in pain.

"Wake up, trainee!" a voice yelled from the other end of the barracks. The small building was suddenly a flurry of movement and sound, making Jake cover his ears as the men woke up all of the other children. He heard the same voice yell something around the room. "I am Chief Petty Officer Mendez. The rest of the men are your instructors. You will do exactly as we tell you at all times. Showers are aft. You will all wash and then return here to dress." Jacob watched the man bend over and open a trunk at the foot of a boy's bed and pull out a matching set of a shirt and pants. "No slacking. On the double!" he yelled. Jacob turned and nearly sprinted out of the room. He wanted to get the hell out of there. It was like a nightmare.

His parents, back in New Paris, were caring, affectionate, and always giving. These "Instructors" were brutal, tall, and mean dictators. Jacob had just learned the word from his dad.

Jacob stepped on a conveyor, already naked. He had thrown his clothes onto the floor on the way in. He washed himself in lukewarm, soapy water, and then stepped into a small chamber where icy cold spray battered against him like pouring rain. He winced from the cold, but fought through it. His dad always said, "Never give up."

After a few moments of the spray, he was kicked out by the next boy in line, and jogged back to his bed. He grabbed some underwear, thick socks, and pulled on the sweats and a small pair of combat boots that fit snugly. He stomped in them twice, testing them. They were nearly perfect, but they were different than the sneakers he wore back on Mars. A lot taller on his legs. On his shirt, where his chest was, were the words JACOB-020

After a moment he looked up to the man who was in charge, Mendez. He looked down at Jacob, winked once, and blew a whistle. "Outside, trainees. Triple time..._march!_"

The group of children marched out onto a strip of grass. The sun wasn't up, but he saw streaks of light coming through the sky from the horizon, far away.

"You will all make five equal-length rows. Fifteen trainees in each." Mendez announced. Jacob saw a line beginning to form to his right, and immediately stepped into it. The leader was the boy that had pushed him out of the showers. He turned to look at Jacob, who smiled. On the boy's shirt was ANTON-044. A girl stepped up behind Jacob, and on her chest was SHEILA-122. Jacob looked around and saw a few of the children walking around with confused looks on their faces. "Straighten those rows." Mendez said, pointing to Jacob's. Anton stepped to his right, and the rest of the row followed suite. "You know how to count to fifteen, trainee?" Mendez asked. "Take three steps back." he pointed at a boy.

"Jumping jacks!" Mendez shouted. "Count off to one hundred. Ready, go." He began to yell out numbers, and the children were forced to follow what he did. One boy was hit in the stomach by one of the stun-batons, after refusing to do as told. Jacob smiled when he saw the kid fall over. _Dummy_, Jacob thought.

After the jumping jacks, they had to do sit-ups, another 100. Squats were after those, and then knee bends, then leg lifts. Jacob had thrown up twice during the exercises, and it looked like most, if not all, of the others had done the same.

"Alright!" Mendez yelled. "Rest. Trainers: get the water." Jacob was one of the first to run over to the carts of water, and grabbed a bottle. He drank it all down, without even thinking about it. It felt amazing.

"Fast little bugger," an instructor mused, as Jacob looked at him, hoping to grab another. Jacob turned and looked around at the rows, and saw that two people were still sitting over on the ground, refusing to get up. "Snooze, you lose." the man said. He tossed a second bottle at Jacob, who caught it. "There you go." Jacob drank that one, too.

"A good start, trainees." Mendez told them. "Now we run. On your feet!" Jacob followed the lines as they ran down a gravel path and past more barracks. They passed a river, a bridge, by an airstrip, and then on a zigzagging path of stone. They finally met in a small area where a large building stood, and a woman was at the top of a large set of stairs. Jacob looked past her, where a sign on the building said NAVAL OFFICERS ACADEMY. She announced her name was Deja, and that she was their teacher. Jacob followed Anton up the stairs. They were the only two. Puzzled, Jacob turned to look at the children.

"Of course, if you prefer to skip your lessons, you may continue the morning calisthenics." The rest of the children followed Jacob and Anton up the stairs.

They learned a lesson about 300 Spartans that had lived on Earth, and had fought off thousands of Persian warriors. Jacob only half paid attention. He had seen a movie about them already, one night his dad had sat down and watched it with him. It was animated, and funny, but it was almost exactly like the real life battle, which Deja showed them. After the presentation, Deja smiled at them. "That's all for today," she said. "We'll continue tomorrow and I'll show you some wolves. Now it's time for you to go to the playground."

"Playground?" a boy asked. Jacob had to admit, a playground would be exactly what he wanted right now. A place to relax and have fun. The group of children stepped out of the classroom and into the yard, where Mendez waited for them, a sinister looking grin on his face.

"Time for the playground. It's a short run. Fall in." Jacob moved to stand behind the boy that had asked about the playground earlier, the one who Mendez had been yelling at back at the barracks. Two miles later, they arrived at a forest of 20-meter tall wooden poles. Rope cargo nets and bridges stretched between the poles, swaying and crossing eachother to make a maze in teh air. Swings and suspended platforms were joined by slide poles and knotted climbing ropes to make the course even stranger looking.

"Trainees," Mendez said. "Form three lines." The children did. "The first person in every row will be team number one, the second person in each row will be team number two, and so on. If you do not understand this, speak up now." Mendez said.

Jacob looked around and counted. He was in the middle row, and was with Anton and Shiela, both of which he already kind of knew. He smiled at them both and waved. Anton just nodded slightly, but Shiela showed one of the widest smiles he had ever seen. "Today's game is called 'Ring the Bell'". He pointed to the tallest pole on the playground, it stood an addition ten meters above the others and had a steel slide pole next to it. Hung at the very top of that pole was a brass bell. "There are many ways to get to the bell. I leave it up to each team to find their own way." He paused, and Jacob nodded at his teammates. "When each member of your team has rung the bell, you are to get groundside double time and run back here across this finish line."

A boy raised his hand. It was the same one who had asked about the playground originally. "What do we win?"

Mendez grinned his same sinister smile again. "You win dinner, Number 117. Tonight, dinner is roast turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, brownies, and ice cream."

Jacob nearly jumped into the air. After the minimal water he had drunk throughout the day, as well as the few crackers had had at the academy, this dinner was like heaven on wherever they were. He still didn't know. "But," Mendez added, "For there to be winners there must be a loser. The last team to finish goes without food." Jacob's eyes grew in size, and he looked at Anton. They smiled at eachother, and Anton looked at Sheila, who waved.

"We can win," Anton said. Jacob nodded right away, and Sheila gripped his shoulder.

"Go!" Mendez shouted.

It was a stampede of children, all running to the pulleys baskets and ropes and everything else. Anton jumped into the air, kicking a small girl to the ground, and landed on a climbing rope. He gripped it, pulling himself up. Jacob followed right behind him, and Sheila was right after him. Someone grabbed at Shiela's boot, and she screamed as she kicked a little boy to the ground. Jacob thought he heard a few instructors laughing. The three found themselves on a small platform, and were about to step on a small bridge, when it flipped over and sent five children into a pit of water below. Jacob laughed at them, and ran across the newly corrected bridge, along with the others. He found himself leading the trio. He paused, looking for a new way up.

The other boy, 117, was easily in first place, probably 10 meters above him on a rope. It was a rope leading directly to the pole where the bell was. There was another rope on the exact opposite side of the large wood pole, and Jacob led the team over to it. "I'll go first, so in case it falls or something you guys can find another way," Jacob said.

Anton smiled, and Sheila shook her head, "No, it won't fall," she said.

Jacob jumped and grabbed the rope. He began to climb upwards, his hands burning and his muscles aching. He felt movement below him, and looked to see Sheila begin to climb up. He smiled, his energy renewed. He heard the bell being rang, and his energy was immediately gone. Anton, far below, yelled something up to him, and Jacob continued climbing.

After a few moments, he was at the top, and rang the bell. He was the second person. He bent over and helped Sheila up. They then helped Anton up moments later. After all ringing the bell, the three slid down a nearby steel pole that slid all the way to the ground, where they fell into a large pile of cushions. The three ran over to Mendez, completely out of breath. Mendez nodded to them, and made three check marks on his clipboard.

The three moved into a group hug. They were a team.


	4. Battle of Jericho VII June 2525

**0630 Hours, June 14, 2525 (Military Calandar) /**

**Atmosphere above planet Jericho VII**

Jake-020 watched as the other Spartans in his pelican fidgeted around. It was his team, along with one other. Anton-044 and Sheila-122 sat to his left and right, while the other three Spartans sat opposite them. They were Danial-039, Emma-019, and Randall-002. The three of them made up the fourth Spartan team, after Blue, Red, and Green teams, respectively. They were Yellow Team. Red and Blue tended to team up the most, while Yellow and Green sometimes worked together on operations.

Green Team was in another Pelican, only a few dozen meters away from their own. Two Pelican drop ships were coming in from another part of the planet, which housed Blue and Red teams. On the surface, the rebels were beginning to gain a choke hold, to the point where they took the Capital's mayor hostage and had killed many, including cops and a handful of UNSC soldiers.

These rebels had been fighting back against the UNSC since before the Spartans were born. They wanted complete liberation from the influence of the UNSC and had, for a long time, been fighting the UNSC in a peaceful manner; Protests, propaganda, marches. Lately, however, they had turned to hacking computers, capturing people, destroying UNSC ships, and even murder. The Spartans were being sent in to stop them.

According to UNSC sources, rebels from all around the system had met up in the capital, and were having one large party. One of the United Rebel Front's major leaders was reportedly on the planet, and Jake's team was being sent in to capture him.

"We'll be touching down in less than a minute," the pilot announced over the intercom. Jake nodded, flipped over the helmet that had been in his hands, and slipped it on. It was a standard UNSC Marine helmet, except a bit larger to accommodate his proportionally larger head. A year ago he had gotten his augmentations, and in some ways, he was still getting used to them. He was now nearly seven feet tall barefoot, and was built like someone who had lifted weights for their entire life. In some ways, he had. Since he was six years old, he had been indoctrinated into the SPARTAN-II program, and since he had been in far better shape than nearly everybody in his age class, all around the galaxy. He was now fifteen years old, but was built like that of someone ten years older. All of the SPARTAN-IIs were.

The Pelican settled down to the ground, and the six Spartans stepped onto the dirt. The boot crunched beneath their feet as they began to walk. Jacob held a sniper rifle, Anton a Shotgun, and Sheila an Assault Rifle. All of them held standard issue UNSC pistols. Danial, from the other team, held an Assault Rifle, as did Randall. Emma held a Sniper Rifle of her own.

"Where to from here?" Anton asked. Jake shrugged, looking at the other six Spartans that had landed from the other Pelican. Kurt-051 led them. He was perhaps the Spartans' best leader, right after John-117, the Master Chief. Among his team was Linda-058, according to many, the Spartans' best Sniper. Jake begged to differ.

"Alright, Yellow team, move West a half click and radio in when you get there. I'll give orders from there." Kurt ordered. Jake scowled. The man was a great leader, yes, but to Jake, he seemed like a total prick. Jake nodded anyway, and led his team into a forest to his left. The two Pelicans lifted off from the ground and into the air.

"What a Grade-A d-bag," Dan murmured. Anton chuckled, as did Shiela and Jake. Emma shook her head, and Randall continued to walk straight ahead. Jake watched the young man, his eyebrows furrowed. Randall was, by all accounts, the quietest man out of any of the Spartans. He was just above six-foot-five, and was one of the shortest Spartans, the shortest belonged to Danial. Randall was also one of the thinnest. Most, if not all, of the Spartans were built like Rhinos, or Elephants, but Randall was more like a Lion. He was one of the smartest Spartans, and was easily the best pilot and driver. Out of all of the Spartans, he knew the most about the UNSC's ships, the freighters, destroyers, repairing ships, everything. He could probably already be a Commander in the Navy if he wasn't indoctrinated into the SPARTAN-II program.

After a minute of hiking through thick brush and over vines and fallen logs, they came to the point and radioed to Kurt. _"Okay. Move to the city. We'll be coming in from a similar position, to the East."_

"Wilco," Jake replied, and ordered his team forward. They continued to walk, Jake occasionally sighting down his scope to make sure the way ahead was clear.

"So," Dan started. Jake glanced over. Coming from that tone of voice, he knew Dan was about to say something totally outrageous. "...Sheila. Want to grab a bite to eat after this?"

Jake nearly turned around and punched the guy. While everyone in the Spartan-II program felt like they were brothers and sisters, Jake was starting to get feelings towards Sheila, feelings of more than friends. Far more than brother/sister. As far as he knew, Jake was the only Spartan who felt this way about another. Thankfully, Sheila quickly denied Dan.

"No. I do not, at all." Sheila replied, not even looking at the boy. "And let's try to keep this mission professional? Okay?" she asked.

Dan had had a history of turning even the most serious situations into living jokes. It seemed like he always had _something_ to say or do. "Oh. Okay then." Dan said, truthfully sad now. "So...uh....Jake, what're you doing later?" he asked.

Nearly everyone in the group cracked up at that, even Randall cracked a smile. Emma just shook her head. The trees began to thin, and Jake ordered his team to fan out, and stay in the shadows. They continued to move forward, and finally came to a line of trees that ended the forest. Jake saw the capital city.

It was like an ancient civilization's city, built like a gigantic pyramid. At the lower levels were where the poor lived, moving upwards it was the fast food restaurants, then the middle class, then the high class restaurants, and the rich. At the top of the pyramid like structure was something built like a Medieval castle. It was where the Mayor lived.

"What a _shitty_ city." Dan whispered.

All of the Spartans burst out laughing.

_"We're in position,_" Kurt announced. Jake replied that they were, too. _"Okay. Move forward and commandeere the closest vehicle you find. We need to get to the capital building as quick as possible." _

"You all hear that?" Jake asked.

"Yessir," Anton replied. Jake nodded, and moved to a low crouch.

"Okay team, make a break for that wall in 3...2...1!" Jake ordered.

The team of six broke out of the trees and ran forward to the nearest building, a small building where he guessed a family lived. They all pounded their backs against the wall and waited, as silent as possible. No sounds of alerted guards reached their ears, so they continued on. Jake moved to the corner of the building and grabbed a fiber-optic cable. He turned it around the corner and checked the street. A few feet away was a large truck, but beyond that was a Warthog with three rebels sitting inside it. One was smoking a cigar, one was polishing his gun, and the third, the man who was supposed to be on the turret, was sleeping.

"We've got tangos in sight," Jake reported. He heard Dan curse in his headset. "Okay," Jake whispered. "Randall, Dan, and Shiela, get up here." Jake ordered. The three of them appeared at his side. "Okay, you three will run ahead and commandeer that Warthog. I don't care who does what, but take it and start creating a lot of hell. Anton, Emma," Jake whispered. The other two Spartans were soon at his side. "Randall, you'll take the Warthog and create a distraction, here on the edge of town. Anton and Emma, you'll go with me in that truck," Jake pointed at the truck only a few feet away. "And we'll haul ass to the Capital building."

It was a simple plan, and hopefully they could execute flawlessly. Jake waved his hand, and Randall, Dan, and Sheila ran out from cover. They fired their Assault Rifles with amazing accuracy and speed, killing all three before they could move. They heard screaming coming from civilians around the area, and Jake swore. They would have to be quicker now. The other three Spartans piled into the truck, as Dan got into the gunner's slot on the Warthog, and spun the turret around to shoot a trio of running Rebels.

"Alright, Randall, go!" Jake ordered.

Randall gunned the Warthog forward, crushing two of the down Rebel soldiers. They turned a corner and were out of sight. Jake waited a moment, then saw two Rebel Warthogs come through the intersection ahead and chase after Randall's own Warthog. Jake turned the engine over, and the trio of Spartans drove up the street, hoping to make it to the capital building without a hitch.

* * *

The truck came to a stop at the corner of the street, a block down from the Capital building. They heard gunfire and screaming all around the city, and were getting a continuous report from Sheila, in the Warthog below. Jake jumped out of the truck, dropping into a low crouch. Emma and Anton appeared right behind him. The block down to the front gates of the Capital was full of luxury clothing shops and a few restaurants. All were abandoned because of the fighting war lower in the city. Jake crept in the shadows, never staying in the sunlight for more than a few moments.

They stopped a few dozen feet from the front gate, and Jake looked back to see his team right behind him.

_"Spartan 051 here. 20, is that you?"_ a voice asked in the speakers.

Jake looked across the front gate and saw a group of four Spartans crouching in the shadows of a large tree.

The gate was guarded on both sides by tall towers where men sat with turrets, and from the side of the gate ran long stone walls parallel to the street, creating a small fotress. Inside the walls were trees, where branches and leaves stuck out to shadow the street. This is where the Spartans waited.

"Yeah, 051. Where's the last-"

_"Set up on a rooftop somewhere. Sent 042 along with her to watch her back. Where's your team?"_

"039, 122, and 002 are being a distraction down low," Jake replied. He saw Kurt nod in the darkness. "Orders?" Jake asked.

_"My team will create a distraction out here to get most of the guards out. You three then breach through the gate."_ Kurt said. Jake nodded, and a moment later a grenade was thrown over the wall. It exploded, sending screams into the air. Kurt dove into the street, firing his Assault Rifle at the nearest tower. He turned and ran, as the man in the tower unloaded ammunition from his turret at the running boy. Another Spartan jumped out from the shadows and hit the Rebel in the head with their Pistol, followed by a quick shot at the other tower. The front gates opened and a group of ten Rebels ran out, weapons held high. An explosion sounded from inside the middle of them, and four were sent flying, three were on the ground with only pieces remaining, and the final three still standing. They were shot and killed. _"Go. Now." _Kurt ordered.

Jake looked at Anton, who clamped his hands together and got himself in a low crouch. Jake put one foot in the hold, and jumped upwards. Combined with the push of Anton, he was sent nearly twenty feet into the air, and safely landed on the other side of the wall. He stayed in the shadow of a tree, watching as another group of Rebels ran towards the front gates. One many stood in the middle of it all, a walkie-talkie in one hand, and a pistol in the other. He ordered men left and right, pointing at Warthogs and stockpiles of weapons. Jake grabbed his Sniper Rifle and aimed.

He fired, just as Emma and Anton landed behind him. They had helped each other up. The man crumpled to the ground, a hole going from his right eye to the back of his head. The soldiers around him split and ran in different directions, but mainly towards the front gate. The three Spartans ran across the front grounds, towards the capital building. It was built like an ancient greek temple, with large pillars adorning the border of the building, and tall doors were the only openings inside. The three Spartans paused before the front doors as Emma moved to plant some charges. Jake and Anton crouched low to provide covering fire, if needed. She moved back behind Jake, who looked away from the doors. A moment later they exploded.

The three charged into the room, weapons held tightly and ready to shoot. They saw a total of four guards, two of which were on the ground, burned, deaf, and blind from the explosion, while two were still stunned. Jake jumped forward, rolled, and came up in a low crouch. He punched each standing man in the abdomen, followed by quick, decisive shots to their throats. Both fell to the ground, attempting to scream but nothing came out. Gagged and bound by ropes, the Mayor lay on a couch, eyes as wide as a Rocket Launcher's barrel. Jake smiled and grabbed him.

Emma contacted their superiors, on a ship in orbit. After a minute of sitting inside the capital building, a Pelican landed in the front lawn. Kurt's team was already inside by the time Jake got on, with the Mayor in tow. The Pelican lifted into the air, with the back ramp still open. They flew for five minutes before finding a clearing in the middle of the forest. Randall, Danial, and Sheila sat in a Warthog that looked as good as new, except for the hundreds of empty bullet casings distributed throughout the vehicle. The three climbed aboard and the Pelican moved to orbit.


	5. Battle of Ulysses August 2532

**0225 Hours, August 20, 2532 (Military Calandar) /**

**Underground Sewer System, planet Ulysses**

Jake-020 glanced over his shoulder, making sure that his squad was still behind him. They had to be. And he had to keep checking.

"What's wrong?" a voice whispered. Jake looked and saw Shiela's pale face looking back at his own. He smiled. Her helmet was off, as was his. Their helmets were useless, an EMP wave detonated earlier in the fight had wiped them out. They had to talk face-to-face, not through speakers and headsets. Even though she was covered in dirt, grime, slime, and scorching, she was beautiful. Jake shook his head.

"It's nothing," he replied.

"Well then can we keep it moving up there?" a voice called. It was Danial. Always the joke-ster. He had the darkest skin out of the group. The most at-ease when out of their armor, he had what could be considered a "tan" to the Spartans, but would probably still be considered "Albino" by the Civilian population. Danial also had hair that was clearly past regulation now, about an inch longer than any of the other Spartans. He also had a beard, something that was not supposed to be allowed. All of the men had stubble, from not shaving for four days, thanks to the battle.

Anton was somewhere in the group, polishing his pistol even though dust and slime were falling from the brick walls around them. Emma was right behind Sheila, her Assault Rifle clipped to her back, her pistol on her hip, and a knife in her hand. Randall was a mystery. The only one not talking, the only one with his helmet on. Supposedly he was trying to contact HIGHCOM, either in space or above ground. Neither were answering.

The six trudged through the murky depths of the underground sewer, constantly on guard.

An explosion sounded from above, almost thirty meters of dirt and concrete did little to impact what was probably a building collapsing. Dust and debris fell all around them.

After a few moments the cloud of dust cleared and Jake saw that his squad was all okay. They continued onwards.

* * *

Corporal Robert Redford dove to the ground as a mortar round hit the ground where he had been standing moments before. Two of his squad-mates were suddenly gone.

"Dammit Bobby!" a voice yelled. Redford glanced over his shoulder to his squad-leader, Staff Sergeant Nicholai Mhikail. He squatted behind the rubble of a collapsed building, firing an Assault Rifle at the incoming waves of Covenant soldiers. "Shoot your weapon!" he ordered.

Robert rolled over, aiming his Assault Rifle at a trio of running Grunts. He fired ten shots, and all three fell to the ground, dead.

"That is better!" Mhikail yelled, laughing. "When we get out of here-" he tossed a grenade into the air. It detonated in the middle of a pack of Jackals. "-I will buy a round of drinks for everyone!"

Robert smiled. Mhikail had quite the reputation when it came to drinking. From the colony of New Moscow, barely inside the "border" between the inner and outer colonies, the entire planet was like that of the 20th century of Russia. In the squad of ten soldiers, four of them were from New Moscow, three from the capital of Rasputin. Two of the other soldiers were from the moons of New Moscow, and another was from the same system. Robert was one of only three "outsiders" of the group.

And the other two were already dead. There were only five of them in the squad now, the others had all been killed in this battle.

Two men, Nicholai something and Josef something, were both injured, victims of a plasma grenade attack. So, in the fight against dozens, if not hundreds of Covenant soldiers, they had three able-bodied men. They were at one end of a large park. A wide street was to their left, and to their right was a small forest of trees. Behind them was the remnants of a collapsed building, destroyed during the opening salvos of Covenant fire. The debris was where the soldiers were making their last stand.

From the other end of the park, scores of Grunts and Jackals charged them, firing plasma pistols and rifles all the way. It was an open field, and the soldiers were able to easily shoot them, but the Covenant had pure numbers. As Robert fired his weapon, a building across the street to his left collapsed, dust and debris flew high into the air. He swore, as did another soldier. His squad leader just laughed.

BOOOM

Robert instinctively ducked, something huge had exploded somewhere to his right, between himself and the forest. He looked over and saw a small crater of smoking glass, dirt and sand that had been flash-burned by some type of Plasma attack.

"Holy shit we've got Covenant tanks!" Mhikail screamed, his casual and hysterical manner suddenly gone.

"WRAITH!" the other soldier, Igor Something-or-other, yelled. Not a moment later a ball of plasma impacted right behind him, sending him flying and Mhikail to the ground. Robert swore and jumped up, firing his weapon with one hand while he ran towards the two soldiers. Igor was on the ground, his back bare, the armor burned and the skin on his back scorched, blistered, and smoking. Mhikail was on the ground, his left arm gone, and the same side of his face blistered.

"Sir!" Robert yelled. He dropped to a knee, and gripped his superior's right hand. "Sir! Hang in there!"

"I cannot..." the Sergeant replied, a faint smile emerging on his face. "...look at me, comrade." He attempted to look at himself, but it must have caused intense pain, for he cried out and leaned his head back again. An explosion of plasma detonated somewhere behind Robert. He felt the heat brush against his neck. "...or don't," Mhikail coughed up blood as he tried to laugh. "...but you need to go. Nicholai...should be dead by now. He would...not make it much....longer....Josef might make it...if you get him....out of here...."Mhikail managed, coughing up blood the entire time.

Robert glanced over his shoulder and saw three Wraith tanks crossing the open area of the park, and nearing his position. Mhikail smiled one last time and closed his eyes. He would not open them again.

Robert screamed in anger, and punched the ground next to him. Another plasma ball exploded behind him, reminding him of his current situation. He leaned forward and grabbed Mhikail's handheld comm. device. "This is Corporal Robert Redford, I am pinned down in Achilles park! There are three Covenant tanks advancing on my position, requesting air strike on them now-"

_"Sorry Corporal, but that request is denied. All our air forces are committed elsewhere-"_

"Can I have an armor strike?....Artillery bombardment?" Robert asked, voice, and heart, sinking. He knew he couldn't get anything. This planet was going to hell, and the forces on it were too. "...reinforcements?"

"You've got 'em." a voice said.

Robert looked up and saw six tall, large, humanoid figures standing with him in the rubble. They wore olive drab green armor that looked like it weighed more than three full-grown men. They wore helmets that resembled a cross between a motorcycle helmet and that of a UNSC soldier's standard helmet. Visors protected their faces, making them seem as alien as the things they fought. In all honesty, Robert was scared shitless.

* * *

"Firing!" Danial yelled. A Rocket flared from the tube mounted on his shoulder, flying towards the leading tank. Emma fired another rocket, as did Sheila. Randall sighted through the scope of his pistol down the street, checking to make sure their back was clear.

"Anton, Emma, Danial and Shiela, keep those grunts pinned down. Randall," Jake ordered, looking at the quietest Spartan. "Attempt to reach HIGHCOM. Doubt it will work, but try anyway."

The five Spartans immediately moved into positions and began work, Danial and Sheila firing their Assault Rifles at the incoming horde of Grunts, while Emma fired her Sniper Rifle, and Anton fired his pistol. Randall crouched beside Corporal Redford, grabbed Sergeant Mhikail's comm. device and began spitting orders. Jake jogged around and grabbed weapons and ammunition.

"This is Petty Officer Second Class SPARTAN-II Randall-002. I am ordering one Pelican transport ship to come to my position and get my team out."

_"Spartan 2? What in the fuck is that?" _the tech officer on the other end replied. Randall cursed. The Spartan-II program was a classified operation, nobody outside of the Office of Naval Intelligence Section One was allowed to know about them. Since the beginning of the fight against the Covenant, the Spartans had been involved in dozens of ground operations, and with hundreds of witnesses, there were beginning to be rumors going out, but almost none of the UNSC, and virtually no Civilians, knew about them.

"It's classified. All you need to know is that we need to get out and you need to pick us up." Randall replied.

_"How do I know that you're not some grunt that's making shit up?" _the man replied.

"Just send a damn Pelican you insolent piece of shit!" Redford yelled. Randall, inside his helmet, smiled in approval.

_"Pelicans en route. ETA Four minutes."_ The man said, obviously saddened.

Jake looked over his shoulder and saw Randall holding up four fingers. "Alright Spartans! We gotta hold position for four minutes!" He received four acknowledgment lights almost instantly.

For the next sixty seconds the battle went smoothly. "Enemies attempting to flank!" Anton yelled. He slammed another clip into his handgun and continued to fire.

"Anton and Danial! Engage the flank!" Jake ordered. The two Spartans turned and ran behind them, beginning to fire on the thirty or so Grunts and Jackals attempting to get behind them.

"Pelicans incoming!" Randall yelled. Jake looked over his shoulder and saw two Pelicans slowly descending towards them. Chin guns on them firing continuously, pounding back the enemy soldiers. One of the pelicans had some sort of mounted missiles that fired, destroying a retreating tank. As the first descended to the ground, Jake saw that there were already eight men inside, most of them injured. The two walking men jumped out and shot covering fire for the retreating Spartans. It was closest to Danial and Anton, so they both jumped inside. Emma jogged over, grabbed Redford, and tossed him inside. Sheila stood beside Jake, firing at the remaining Covenant soldiers.

"Sheila, get on that bird!" Jake ordered. "I'll get on the second!" he said, as the second Pelican began to drop. Sheila did so, gingerly jumping into the first pelican's blood tray. Randall crouched behind a destroyed jungle gym's tunnel, firing his rifle at something behind Jake. "Randall, get in!" he yelled, leaping into the second Pelican. Randall quickly followed suite. Inside were two ODSTs in full suit uniforms. They both looked at Randall and Jake in presumed awe, behind their own visors. The ramp that led into the pelican quickly raised, becoming a back wall of the blood tray. Jake could literally feel the Pelican turn to a steep ascent, moving towards the atmosphere of the planet.

The door to the cockpit was open, and Jake saw the pilot, co-pilot, and crew chief all sitting together. The crew chief suddenly stood up and jogged to the back, his face white. "The _Archangel_ is under heavy fire from two Covenant destroyers. They don't know if they're gonna make it!" Jake glanced at Randall, and saw him intently watching the crew chief. His right leg bounced up and down at a rapid pace.

"Two destroyers? Shit!" one of the ODSTs said. The other just shook his head and pounded it backwards, against the bulkhead of the Pelican.

"Shit!" someone in the front yelled. Randall looked up at them, his right hand beginning to twitch. "EMP or something! Controls are shot!" Randall suddenly bolted forward, grabbed the crew chief, and tossed him into the back of the bird. He grabbed both the pilot and copilot, and threw them both in the back. Jake stood up, suddenly confused. Randall's hands were a blur of movement as he tapped in commands rapidly on a side console, suddenly revealing a small compartment behind the pilot's chair, where three helmets lay. He tossed all three back, then turned and shut the door to the back, cutting everyone off from him.

"Randall!" Jake yelled. "What are you doing?!"

"My duty," he said. "Tell them to get ready to enter vacuum."

"What?!" Jake screamed. "You can't really be-" he started.

Something beeped, and a light appeared above the door. The back door/ramp was about to open. "PUT THOSE HELMETS ON!" Jake ordered. The three confused crew members quickly fumbled for the helmets. Their suits were already vacuum-sealed. "Randall! Think about this-!" Jake started. But the ramp suddenly opened, and all six men inside were sucked outside, and the sudden decompression of the cabin sent the pelican speeding forward, ten times as fast as before. It charged right towards one of the destroyers.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the first Pelican floating towards him, the ramp open and the four Spartans inside holding their hands to grab the men now floating in space. Beyond the pelican, Jake saw two UNSC ships begin to turn towards the Covenant destroyers, attempting to give covering fire for The _Archangel_, the ship that the Spartans were supposed to be stationed. The _Archangel_ itself also began to come into view. The Spartans inside the Pelican quickly grabbed Jake, the ODSTs, and the crew of the second Pelican. His vision began to black out. He barely heard Sheila's voice scream out, "He's hit!" Someone said "Compromised!" and another voice swore. The corners of his vision were gone, and out of the open blood tray he saw a speck in space- Randall's pelican heading towards the destroyer.

A MAC round was fired from one of the UNSC ships, and it impacted on the lead Covenant's ship, immediately depleting it's shields. Randall took the chance and soon was only a few feet away from the Destroyer's hull. The shields quickly engaged again, and he was inside of them. Jake heard someone yell that they were inside The _Archangel_. All went black.


	6. After the battle August 2532

**1055 Hours, August 20, 2532 (Military Calandar) /**

**Slipspace**

Jake opened his eyes to see that he lay in a lightly illuminated room, with medical equipment all around him. A nurse stood beside him, a small laptop in hand, rapidly tapping in commands. "Oh, you're conscious again," she murmured, looking down at him. "One moment," she whispered, and quickly left the room. Jake was left alone to ponder what had happened before he fell unconscious.

The battle on Ulysses, the escape above the planet, and Randall going off by himself to face the destroyer-

"RANDALL!" Jake yelled, abruptly sitting up in his bed. His right side immediately sent out an intense pain, he vaguely felt bandages wrapping around the area.

Shiela suddenly appeared inside the room, a smile crossing her face. "You're okay!" she murmured, and lunged forward to hug him. It was uncharacteristic, and very different than what Spartans normally did- show little to no emotion. "Sheila-" Jake whispered. "-where is Randall?"

Shiela quickly let go of him, dropping her arms to her side. She stepped backwards, looking down at the ground. Anton and Danial soon stepped into the room. Emma was shortly behind them.

Anton was the one who then spoke. "Jake...we don't know what happened to Randall." He paused, looking at the ground. "Right after you blacked out...another MAC round was fired at that lead destroyer, where Randall was. The _Archangel_ stayed in the area for a few more seconds, attempted a scan. Records show that Randall turned off the FOF tags on the ship, on his own. Right after that, he disappeared. Went off-radar. Then two more Covenant ships appeared in-system, and we had to leave. We already did our random jump, and are continuing to Reach."

Jake's head dropped. _So he could still be alive..._ "Thanks, Anton."

Jake swung his legs over to the left side of the bed, and stood up, much to the shock of the same nurse from earlier. "Spartans, return to what you were doing. I'm going to go talk to the Captain."

"Admiral." Danial whispered.

"What?" Jake asked, looking over at him.

"Captain Kurosaki was replaced with Admiral Horvath midway through the battle." Sheila said. "The Admiral was aboard _The Molnar_ at the beginning, but that was severely damaged, and the Admiral and some of his crew managed to bug out before it went too far down the drain. He's pretty much commandeered The _Archangel_, replaced the original crew with his own. Runs the ship much differently than Kurosaki did."

"Well where is the captain?"

"In the barracks. His quarters were also taken by Horvath, so Kurosaki had to take the place of a Lieutenant who died on the ground battle."

Jake glanced out the window behind Sheila. The three-inch glass warped the outside room slightly, but he still saw two men moving together in their own wheelchairs. Injured marines limped together, conversing. A handful of nurses were distributed about, watching the wounded, and marking things on their clipboards and laptops. "So where are you going?" Sheila asked.

"Who was in command when they scanned for Randall?"

"Kurosaki was, I believe-" Anton started.

"I'm going to him, then." Jake said, and limped past him, and into the main recovery area. He presence caused some of the Marines to look over in awe. He was two meters tall, built like a tank, and almost as pale as paper. As he continued walking, his form began to get better, and the pain dulled. Jake walked through the hallways calmly, occasionally nodding at passing soldiers or Naval personnel. Most starred at him as he walked by, in awe at his large, pale form. Others just kept moving, seeming to ignore him. They had seen the horrors of war, which was much more shocking than what they saw in the genetically altered human walking before them.

He soon stepped into the personnel wing, unofficially dubbed the barracks. It was split into sections, and each section had rows and rows of beds. There were two sections for recreation- for cards and programs and games and whatever else. About half of the soldiers were in there, trying to take their minds off of what was really going on. Jake quickly stopped a passing Sergeant, asking for Captain Kurosaki. The Sergeant pointed down a hallway, and Jake briskly walked down the one in question. After less than a minute walking, he saw the short, skinny form of the Captain sitting on a bed.

"Captain Kurosaki, sir!" Jake announced, saluting.

Startled, Takashi Kurosaki quickly whipped around, eyes wide. "Ah, a Spartan," he murmured. He quickly stood up, and bowed. Jake swiftly returned the bow. "Excuse me, Spartan, but I have not seen any of you for a long enough time to recognize your differences. I do not know your name."

"Captain, my name is Jacob-020."

"A name? And a number? How..." Kurosaki seemed to be pondering his words. "...different."

"Yes, Captain."

Kurosaki sat on his bed, pushing away his knife, which he had been polishing. "So, I presume you come to my..." his voice trailed off as he motioned around him. "...office for a reason?"

Jake smiled, moving to sit on a nearby bed. The foam let him settle quickly, but it made the thin metal holding the mattress up creak and sag inwards. As he sat, Kurosaki's eyebrow raised. "Yes, sir." Jake said, his lightened mood suddenly darkening. "I came to ask about Spartan 002- Randall. I am under the impression that you were still in command when we lost contact with him?"

"That is correct," Kurosaki said, looking into Jake's eyes intently. Not many men did. "And I am sorry to inform you, but I honestly do not know what has become of him. We jumped just as those Covenant vessels appeared. Your squad-mate turned off his FOF tags, and we lost contact."

"That is what I heard." Jake said. "Well, Captain," he stood, saluting. "I'm off to rejoin my team. We'll be at Reach soon?"

"That is correct." Kurosaki said flatly.

"Then we'll most likely have a mission waiting for us when we get there." Jake bowed, and turned away, his back now to the Captain. "Until next time."

Jake walked away, tears forming in his eyes. _...Randall..._


	7. The burial of Shiela January 2544

**0600 hours, January 18th, 2544 (Military Calander)\**

**Reach.**

Jake stood in the middle of a clearing in a large forest on the surface of Reach, looking forward. On his right stood Anton, and on his left was Emma. To her left was Danial. They were the only four in the clearing, looking at the cross that had been commissioned and erected. On it was a small memory, inscribed in it through the hard work of Jake and Anton over the course of the rest of the flight. They took turns, using their combat knives to inscribe the message on the small, wooden block. It looked more magnificent than any machine ever could have done.

_Sheila-122. Spartan. Ally. Sister. Friend. Hero._

_Shall always be remembered. _

The entire thing, the cross, the cut-out, the ceremony that they had done, was unorthodox. As far as Jake knew, no fallen Spartan had had anything even remotely similar done in their honor. _But she was more important than all of the others..._ Jake vaguely thought. _Why can't I save them? Goddamnit! First Randall...and now Sheila? How much longer can we fight this war? Until every single one of us is dead and gone?_

"Jake..." Emma murmured. Jake looked up from staring at the cross, and saw that Danial was already a few steps away, his back turned. Emma had her hand on his shoulder, while Anton had dropped to a low crouch. "...we should go. We've got a mission to do."

"I know." Jake whispered. "I know."

He looked down at Anton, who pulled a pile of dirt out of the ground, put it to his forehead, and then dropped it. He didn't wipe of his hands. "Let's go." He whispered, barely audible.

*** * ***

Vice Admiral Takashi Kurosaki stood on the bridge of the Pericles, looking out through the front view port. The UNSC Carrier drifted through space, the bridge crew just getting to work on the ship's systems. Fresh out of construction, it was a new ship. The crew had just graduated from the old Carrier _the Archangel_, which had recently been decommissioned.

"Sir, can you take a look at this?" someone said.

Takashi looked over at the source of the voice, it was one of the only veterans of the old crew, the Navigations officer. But instead of a navigation chart in front of him, he had a syllibus of everything that was currently on the ship. "Look at this," he said.

Takashi's eyes narrowed as he quickly read through the ship's complement. _Ten longsword fighters, Fifteen Pelican dropships, six shortsword bombers, 200 ODSTs, 600 Marines-_

_NavSpecWar occupants_

"Yeah. What's that?" he asked. The rest of the list showed the Naval crew aboard, the number of Mongooses and Warthogs and Scorpions they had, as well as all of the weapons and ammunition.

"Kubota. Ignore it." Takashi said, a smile crossing his face. It was the first true, happy grin that he had had in many, many years. "Let's just say it's something really, really good."

* * *

Writer's note: **Recently, I've bought and read through the Halo Encyclopedia. There have been some discrepencies between what I've written and what is in the encyclopedia itself. I apologize for these mistakes, but some are a bit large to try and fix. So, with the fact that most of these chapters were written months ago, you, as the reader, are going to have to go with me on this. Thanks! :)**


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